In Love with PixelDolls

I have a guilty secret when it comes to SL fashion: I'm cheap. No, really. I completely agree that designers deserve to be paid well for what they do, and I can only imagine how much work and skill go into all the lovely goodies that make me sigh with content when I gloat over them in my inventory. But I still find it hard to bring myself to click the Buy button and fork over the lindens. Like many, I've had my share of disappointing purchases (but it looked so good in the ad...) and maybe that's part of it. The end result is that while I often admire fatpacks and huge ensemble collections, I rarely buy them. Recently however, I ran across a new release from PixelDolls that yanked me out of my usual pattern and had me scrambling to buy the whole thing with barely any hesitation. I know it's been blogged a couple of times already, but it's good enough that it deserves the attention imho.

Innocent Dans L'Amour is a full avatar, complete with shape, Stella di Roccia skin, eyes, Sin Skins prim lashes, PixelSalon hair (with a color changing HUD), light kit, AO and finally the gown. A gorgeous romantic gown with all the attention to detail and lush texturing that PixelDolls fans know so well (on all layers, for mixing with other pieces). The cost? 400L for one color, or 1500L for all five - Burgandy, Ivory, Midnight, Noir and Rose. There is some duplication if you get the fatpack; the shape/eyes/lashes/hair/light/AO are the same in each outfit but each colour of gown has its own skin with a makeup to suit. I found that the range of colors resulted in very different looks, from demure to near Goth. The only thing I wasn't thrilled with in this wonderful set was the selection of hair colors included. The streaks looked unnatural to me and didn't work with the elegant dresses and faces in this collection. I tried them all and didn't find one I really liked, but I made the happy discovery that other PixelSalon color HUDs will work with this style too. For an extra L150, I now have two hairstyles in colors I will gladly wear.

I don't dress up that often in my Second Life, so being able to easily mix and match the Innocent pieces helped convince me to buy it. Designers who put pieces on all layers will always be at the top of my shopping list. For this look I mixed the Burgandy shirt on the jacket layer with the Noir gloves/arm prims and paired them with leather pants from Launa Fauna and boots from Lyra Muse. I'm also wearing the skin from the Burgandy outfit. I know I'll be wearing these pieces in many different ways for a long time and I got huge value for my lindens. What's not to love?
Wearing: (1) dress, skin, AO pose, hair (tinted with solid HUD, not incl. in outfit) - Innocent Noir, PixelDolls, ring - Paper Couture, necklace - Miriel, shape - my own; (2) hair - Nancy in Fire, TRUTH, necklace - Earthtones, neko parts - Hybrid & Jungle Voodoo